"HOW MUCH IS GERMANY DESPERATE?"

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 265, 5 April 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

"HOW MUCH IS GERMANY DESPERATE?"

Whether or not America will permit herself to be drawn in as an activo participant in tha world conflict, remains to bfe seen. Diplomatic relations have been and the position at the moment is critical; but tho latenews indicates that despite the popular clamour the President is still of opinion that the cause of tho Allies *an best bo served by measures other than the despatch of an expeditionary force. The " overt acts" of tiie past few weeks, as the result of which quite a number of American lives have been lost, .s evidence of Germany's desire to provoke a straight-out declaration of war. In America, when you express sympathy with someone in financial trouble, they have a happy way of asking you ■'How much are you sorry?" It is a good practical test that can Ik? used to measure other emotions besides sympathy, and in the opinion of Mr D. 'J. \V. Gibb. who writes in a London contemporary, it, can be very well applied to Germany's feeling of despair. Despite the Kaiser's bombastic utterances concerning the retreat of his forces on the Western front, there- is every reason to believe that despair has driven Germany to throw down the glove to the United States and other neutrals. The measure of the risks she runs and the sacrifices she may thereby bo called upon to make, is the measure of her present despair. How much are tho Germans desperate? According to Mr. Gibb, they are desperate to the extent of losing any mora! support they even had amongst neutrals. That, he says, may not count for much. They are desperate to the extent of throwing the American Navy and American finance on to the side of the Allies. That certainly counts for a good deal. They are desperate to the extent of endangering all their merchant vessels lying in American and South American harbours. That counts tor everything: it is the gambler's last throw. What the loss .f their steamers in neutral harbours would mean to the Germans, only those who know Germany's pride in her mercantile machine, and the hopes that she bases on it for the future, can realise; but certain figures which have recently been published show very clcaiT- tho volume of the sacrifice she is prepared to make. To answer the question "How much is she desperate?" Mr Gibb bids us turn to a recent issue of Lloyd's List, wherein is contained a long list of German and Austrian vessels lying in the harbours of the United States, Mexico and South America. The list is presumably complete, and it is certainly accurate enough to give a good idea of the amount of shipping endangered by a breach between Germany and a league of neutrals headed by President Wilson. The steamer tonnage, excluding Austrians. summarised is roughly as follows:—

Gerjnan Steamers. Gross Tons. In U.S. ports 623,000 In Brazilian port 3 23-3,000 In other neutral ports of North and South America 405,000 Total 1,263,000 This total includes many of Germany's track liners—tho Vatcrland, which is tho pride of her mercantile marine, and the Kronprinzcssin Cecilie, winch found herself, at the outbreak of war, m tho Atlantic with gold worth millions of sterling in her, to be picked up by the first British cruiser that crossed her path. It includes besid s these luxurious passenger steamers cargo vessels of great value and efficiency, and if we take the average value of the whole at not more than £ls per ton, we get the very respectable total cf £19,000,000 as tho selling value pt the property Germany is prepared to lose as the price of the hostility of American neutrals. But the cash value of steamers is a very poor gauge of their value as a national asset —that is a lesson which have all learnt in this war —and Germans would be the last to under-estimate the national value uf their property in steamers. They know—in fact, they openly state—that tneir recovery and development after the war will depend upon their mercantile marine, and they are counting on it to replenish their stocks of raw material, and push their export trade at the expense of the Entente Powers. These after-the-war hopes of Germany will b t . crippled in the proportion in which she loses her mercantile marine now, and to find out what that proportion would lie, we need only compare tho total tonnage under the German flag, with the German tonnage in American ports. Here is the iigure of total German tonnago shown in "Lloyd's Register":— Gross Tons. Steamers. 1916 3,890,000 'J hat is the sum ot Germany's mercantile marine. .Now compare, it with what she stands to lose if her steamers in American ports are captured or destroyed : Gross Tons. | Total German marine ... 3,5fH),000 1 In American ports 1.263,000 Remaining 2,6'27,0(HJ I These ligures mean that neutrals in i North and South America have in their I hands almost exactly 33 per cent i«I I all Germany's tonnage .in steamers, I .Mid ii Germany tones war upon tho United States and other American reI publics, this 33 per ci nt is lost to , her. The recovery after the war, in so tar as it depends on shipping, will , be crippled by one-third; tho supply of food and raw materials for the hungry p op'e and the hungry factories iviJl b> iheked—and yet Germany iv prepared to take the risk. How much is she desperate? Nor is the material loss the greatest that she would have

to sutler. The pride that, she takes in h'T growth as a seafaring Power would suffer not less severely. In the sixteen years of tins century, the stein tonnage of her mercantile marine was nearly doubled, the figures shown in 'Lloyd's Register" being as follows: Gross Tons. 1900 2,160,000 1 ( J10 3.890,000 Growth 1,730,000 In sixteen years she added 1,730.000 tons to her mercantile steamers. Si:e is endangering now 1,263,000 tons over two-thirds of that increase. J? the republics of America are forced int> wir with Germany, the progress of 12 years in German shipping s straightway wiped out. What do-s Hen llillin think of that? On-e again, "How much is Germany desp'-r----an'l-" As .Mr Gibb espressos it, she i-. as desperate as || u . gambler wlim he Uirnivs down on the table hw last and mot precious [wssossion to keep tho dice moving for a few more seconds and g've Fortun> one final opportunity to look his way.

THE PIAXO. Five and thirty black slaves, Hilf-a-hundred white, Ail their duty but to smg Kor their Queen's delight, iS'ow with throats ot tnunder, Now with dulcet lips, While she rules them royally With her finger-tips! When she quits her pa la Co All the slaves are dunili— Dumb with dolour till tho Queen Back to the v ourt is come; Dumb the throats of thunder, Dumb the dulcet lips, Lacking all the sovereignty Of her finger-tips! Dusky slaves and pallid, KNin slaves and white. When the Queen was on lier I'irone. How yoii sang tvnif;lit! Ah, the throats of thunder! Oh, tho dulcet hps! Ah, the gracious tyrannies Of her finder-tins! William Watson.